Birthdays are so great. You get to feel special all day long. Your door bell rings and you know it's something good (thanks, Dad! Love the flowers!!). Gifts adorn your kitchen table. People write really nice things on your wall on Facebook. Your husband, who is a Facebook recluse, actually comes out of hiding and agrees to write on your wall. See? Facebook just made birthdays about 100x more fun. And your friends and family save on postage, too.

Scotty decided to give me his gift early. Yesterday afternoon, recovering from what we can now refer to as the Worst Food Poisoning ever (thank you, halibut), we were playing in the living room when he walked over to me. Yup, just walked. Sauntered, even. Casually, as if he does this every day.

It took me about three seconds to process what had just happened. I looked at him, and then the fireplace (where he came from) and then back to him. It was one of those, "Wait...what? Did you just...? You did! Okay, do it again! Wait, let me grab the video camera! Okay, now you don't want to do it again. Okay, now you want to grab the video camera. And now you are crying. Okay, game over."

Not exactly the way I'd imagined it, but it was okay.

It took another two hours (and lots of coaxing) to get him to take another five steps. (well, not the whole time. He does this thing where he likes to walk around me as I sit on the floor. He stands behind me and plays with my ponytail and gives me little baby slaps on the back. It feels like he's scratching my back (ahhh) or giving me a little back massage, so no, I'm not going to stop him. Let's put this kid to work, right? Momma needs a back rub, stat). And yes, I missed those steps on video. And then he took another like, 17 steps. And then walked from the foyer into the kitchen. And that's when I was like, "Okay, I get it. You are walking. Let's call Dad."

Brian was duly impressed as well. We have yet to catch the actual event on video (though I got one good picture this morning) since Scotty turns into a ham the minute he sees the camera. Future reality show star? Please, no.

Anyways, in addition from this monumental milestone, I think my kernicterus fears can be 100% put to rest now. I know, you are probably like, "Geez! She's still blathering on about bilirubin?" And yes, I am because that whole experience left a major scar on my brain. It was exactly one year ago I was sitting in Dr. Awesome's office for the first time, tearfully recounting the last hellish 3 weeks of Scotty's life. She didn't give me false hope and she also didn't shy away from the challenge of taking on a potentially brain-damaged patient. She spent over an hour with my mom and I a few days later when we brought Scotty in, and you could tell she was constantly assessing him the way her eyes raked over every inch of him.

But now, with milestones being met on time and with zeal (like language...holy cats, this kid is going to be a talker: "Juice!" "Cheese!" He even said "Smooth" when he ran his hand over the smooth square in his picture book), I feel as though we are on the right page. Which is the best gift ever.

(I'm not going to lie - an iPad is a pretty rockin' gift, too. Thanks, sweetie!!!!)